Jesus Converses With an Insightful Woman
- davidwperk
- Jan 19, 2024
- 5 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, January 21, 20022
The week of the second Sunday after Epiphany
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
19The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. . . . .25The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ 26Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 945)
AM Psalm 31; PM Psalm 35
Gen. 11:27-12:8; Heb. 7:1-17; John 4:16-26
Today we celebrate the Feast of Wulfstan. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
This conversation has drawn much attention from commentators, the majority of whom have been male (prior to the seventies, the professional fraternity of biblical scholarship was almost exclusively male). Not only has this woman been vilified for her lack of moral fiber, but she also has been caricatured as spiritually dull.
The vilifying of her moral character has been founded on a literal reading of verse 18. Jesus told her he know she had had five husbands. Yet, the passage does not say that she had suffered five divorces. An alternative reading would be that the Samaritans have worshipped the gods of five nations (which historically is true) and that the woman serves as a cipher for the Samaritan people.
The same commentators who take verse 18 literally go on to vilify the woman for taking Jesus’ statements about water with a dull, wooden literalness. Supposedly, she thought only about literal water while Jesus spoke of the Spirit of God symbolically under the rubric of water.
Suppose the woman indeed was dialoging with Jesus on a theological level and not with that assumed dullness. This is the first and longest instance in the Gospels of a woman in a theological dialogue with Jesus. (If you compare it with the dialogue a chapter earlier in John between Jesus and a male Jewish leader, Nicodemus in John 3, the woman comes off rather well by comparison.) Those who accuse the woman of a dull, literal response to Jesus themselves are guilty of that same literalness in their reading of verse 18. Can they have it both ways?
My point? So much of our reading of the Bible is colored by an interpretative perspective that contributes to the stereotyping of women and of their roles in the church and the culture. Jesus’ own perspective and practice were so much more untraditional, refreshing, and honoring of women. Even in this instance, he broke with social custom as a rabbi and spoke with a woman in public (a fact that surprised his returning disciples later in this chapter). And, the narrative honors her as a person who came to faith and shared the message of her experience with Jesus with her entire village.
Carol Lee Flinders put it well. “The Gospels themselves . . . have made it indisputably clear that Jesus himself loved women and took them seriously as spiritual aspirants.”+
+Carol Lee Flinders, At the Root of This Longing: Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst [(New York: HarperCollins, 1998), p. 130.]
Collect of the Day, The Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 215)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Wulfstan of Worcester, bishop (died 19/20 Jan 1095 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Wulstan
Almighty God, whose only-begotten Son led captivity captive and gave gifts to your people: Multiply among us faithful pastors, who, like your holy bishop Wulfstan, will give courage to those who are oppressed and held in bondage; and bring us all, we pray, into the true freedom of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Collect of the Feast of Cecilia
Gracious God, whose servant Cecilia served you in song: Grant us to join her hymn of praise to you in the face of all adversity, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 97)
A Collect for Early Evening
Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 280)
Daily Office Gospel, John 4:16-26
16Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ 17The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ 19The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ 21Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ 25The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ 26Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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